Jacob Nankhonya was manhandled by a man identified as Lawrence Mlambwaza who reportedly stopped Nankhonya from taking pictures at the memorial service and attempted to seize his camera.
(MISA/IFEX) – The Malawi Chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA-Malawi) has learned with disappointment that Blantyre Newspapers Limited (BNL) photojournalist Jacob Nankhonya was roughed up at a memorial service for the late former president Hastings Kamuzu Banda on 14 May 2011.
According to our investigations, Nankhonya was manhandled by a man identified as Lawrence Mlambwaza. Mlambwaza reportedly stopped Nankhonya from taking pictures at the memorial service and attempted to seize his camera. The incident took place at Kamuzu’s mausoleum at the Heroes’ acre, City Centre, Lilongwe.
Nankhonya told MISA-Malawi that he was invited by the Kamuzu family to take pictures at the memorial service. “I had finished taking pictures when suddenly a man known as Jim Jumani Johansen, who claims to be the late Kamuzu’s son, showed up at the service . . . It happened that Jumani was passing through the spot I had focused on with the camera . . . Mlambwaza thought I was shooting pictures of Jumani and he rushed towards me and attempted to snatch my camera,” Nankhonya said.
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